Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › The violin: its famous makers and their imitators. With numerous wood engravings from photographs of the works of Stradiuarius, Guarnerius, Amati, and others, 1875 › scan 49

Scan 49

The violin: its famous makers and their imitators. With numerous wood engravings from photographs of the works of Stradiuarius, Guarnerius, Amati, and others, 1875

2 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 13. See the scan on archive.org.

1the works of the Old Masters, who seem to have preferred to retain a piece of wood of known acoustic properties rather than to work in a larger or better preserved portion at the probable expense of tone. In the Viola, Plate 1, by Bergonzi, is an instance of this desire to preserve rare material. Under its lovely varnish may be seen several pieces let in most artistically. The time and care required for such a delicate operation must have been sufficient to have enabled the artist, had he been so minded, to have made a complete instrument. There is also ample proof that Joseph Guarnerius possessed wood to the exceptional qualities of which he was fully alive, and the same may be said of Stradiuarius, Rugerius, and others. It is scarcely reasonable to suppose that in the seventeenth century there was a dearth in Italy of timber suitable for the manufacture of Violins, and that, in consequence, these eminent makers were compelled to patch and join their material to suit their purpose. Nor can we think that they did so from an absence of pecuniary means, for they were in the enjoyment of a patronage certainly sufficient to enable them to follow their calling without privation of any kind. Scarcity of pine and sycamore, good and bad, could not have been the cause, since we find Italian cabinet-work of great beauty that was manufactured at this same period. It is, further, improbable that these masters of the art should have expended such marvellous care and toil over their work, pieced as it frequently

The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.